High Stakes Freight: How To Transport Cold-Formed Steel Wall Panels

Panelized construction is rapidly increasing in popularity as it offers expedited building times, reduced labor complexity, reduced waste, and higher quality. Logistics is one of the most important parts of the panelized construction process. If a product cannot be safely and timely delivered to the jobsite, then the efficiencies of industrialized construction are diminished. In this article, we will explore the entire process of working with panelized products, including design, packing, transportation, and delivery from the factory to the job site.

What are prefabricated panels? 

Prefabrication involves creating complete or partial wall sections known as panels. These panels can consist of just the framing materials or other things such as sheathing, windows, doors, interior layers, and mechanical systems.

When a panel stands upright, the distance from the floor to the ceiling defines its height. The panel’s width spans from the right to the left edge when it is in a standing position.

Designing Panels with Logistics in Mind

It is critical to determine logistical constraints before designing panels or even choosing panelization. The main constraints are weight, shipping orientation, and truck width/height. For an in-depth review of each states’ requirements, review this article.  In this article, we will focus on normal-sized loads, which are typically less than 8′ 6″ wide, rather than analyzing oversized panelized loads.

When loading a trailer with wall panels, you can choose between two primary methods: vertical loading and horizontal loading. This will highly impact how you design and implement the panel layout on your building. It also depends how you plan to load and unload the truck. 

If your ceiling/plate height is less than 8′ 6″, then your panels can lay horizontally on a truck bed without sticking out with the top plate and bottom plate (ceiling and floor edges) of the panel at the left and right side of the truck. The other advantage is that you can have panels much longer than 8′ 6″. We’ve seen panels up to 20′ or longer when the ceiling height is less than 8′ 6″.

If, however, your ceiling height is more than 8′ 6″, then you either have to make your panels no longer than 8′ 6″ or stand your panels vertically. Narrower panels means that you have to set more walls to build an equivalent amount of linear footage.

The maximum height of vertical panels depends mainly on two factors: the maximum load height allowed by the states through which the trailer will travel and the height of the trailer itself. By utilizing a hotshot or drop deck trailer, you can typically accommodate panels up to approximately 10’ tall, but it’s crucial to verify the specific regulations of the states along the planned route to ensure compliance.The advantage of vertical panels is that they can be very wide. This reduces the number of sets required to build an equivalent amount of linear footage.

Vertical panels are trickier to brace for transport than horizontal panels because they require significant bracing to prevent them from falling over during transport. Vertical panels are more conducive for craning because they do not need to be stood up like horizontal panels.

Typical options include hotshots, step decks, and full load flat beds. There are also other forms of transport such as lowboys; however, typical panel fabrication is oriented around the more readily available options. Hotshots are capable of carrying between 15,000 lbs and 20,000 lbs with typical deck sizes of 8′ wide and 40′ long. Hotshot deck sizes can vary and must be checked before booking. Step decks typically have a step that is higher than the rest of the truck. The step is usually 10-12′ long and the rest of the trailer is 40′ to 48′ long. Flat beds are typically 48′ or 53′ long.

For more detailed information, check out our article about available kinds of transport. 

The distance to your job site and the number of loads are additional factors to consider when planning your transportation strategy. For large-scale projects located in close proximity to the manufacturing facility, it may be cost-effective to invest in dedicated trailers equipped with custom racks tailored to your specific needs. In most other scenarios, however, utilizing standard and readily available transportation methods will likely be the most practical and efficient approach.Typically you will not need special racks unless the job site is close and you have enough work to justify the cost of custom trailers. Special racks are fabricated mainly for transporting panels vertically as that is the more unstable condition.

How to Load and Unload Panels

Panels can weigh anywhere from 20 pounds to hundreds of pounds. It all depends upon how big the panel is and the desired method of unloading and installation. You can install and unload lighter panels by hand, but heavier panels will require a jobsite forklift or a crane to install. 

Weight also depends upon the structural thickness of steel and the number of studs in a wall. Partially sheathed or finished panels can also start to weigh more as plywood and cladding add a lot of weight. Light residential cold-formed steel only panels typically weigh less than 15,000 lbs and can fit on a hotshot. Heavy structural panels can start to exceed 20,000 lbs and will require a step deck or flatbed.

If you have determined that horizontal transport is best for your operation you want to keep in mind a few things:

• Ensure you have a forklift with long enough forks to lift wide panels.
• Place blocking underneath your panels for fork access.
• Apply strapping or studs to the sides of the panels for safe transport.

If you plan on craning at any point, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Utilize products like ClarkDietrich’s panel clip or Simpsons panel hoist clip, which allow easier installation of your panels.
• Ensure sufficient bracing on your panel groups for transport.
• Use a spreader bar for wider panels to evenly distribute the weight, making it easier to lift. 

The order of panels and stacking play a critical role in efficient transport, but the order in which you load the panels is equally important. It is recommended to load the panels in reverse order of their intended use. This means placing the first panels needed for the project on the outermost side of the stack. It can be tempting to stack panels by sizes, but it is not as efficient as it will take longer to sort the panels on the job site, which can become costly.

What Are The Costs of Shipping Panels?

Contact Stream Modular for accurate rates as they vary per route. However, the following are good rules of thumb:

• Hotshots are approximately $2.5 per mile with a minimum of $250-300.
• Full loads are approximately $3-4 per mile with a $500 minimum.

Panel packaging is another cost that is easy to forget. It highly depends upon the panel finish. Panels can be any combination of rough unfinished to finished exteriors in the case of Sto Panels.

For unfinished cold-formed steel only panels, we recommend against using any packaging besides bracing into bundles.  Proper stacking and securing of panels is crucial to ensure they can be safely and effectively strapped for transportation.

For panels with plywood or OSB on one side, it is not critical to package them. However, if the type of wood in use has a factory-applied protective coating, then it is critical to protect that coating from the heads of screws on prior panels. There are three ways to achieve this. The first involves flipping the panels to alternate their orientation. Alternatively, foam or cardboard can be placed between the panels to prevent direct contact. Lastly, panels can be carefully stacked on top of each other without allowing any dragging motion during placement.

If you have a prefinished panel, then packaging is very critical. Sufficient foam or cardboard must be applied between layers to prevent damage.

Case study:

In 2023, US Frame Factory worked with Stream Logistics to transport prefinished and pre insulated panels to California. These panels had delicate prefinished sheet metal that had to be protected with foam and wrapped. Due to the nature of the project, none of the panels were wider than 4′, so it was very simple and easy to side load horizontal bundles onto a single truck. Because they were prefinished with plywood and insulation susceptible to water, the driver tarped the load to ensure a dry ride.

This project demonstrated:

• 100% on-time delivery
• Product moved water and wind damage-free
• Easy loading and unloading
• Just-in-time manufacturing and transportation
• Thorough packaging and product performance

Learn more about US Frame Factory at usframefactory.com and buy accessories at clips.usframefactory.com